When the Heart isn't Followed
by Selene Moonstar
Summary: Song and Po have been together for a while now, but after breaking up with the Dragon Warrior, the Lady of the Shade goes about life without remorse. Tigress, who's been Po's best friend for years, is going to find out why. Rated T for strong language
1. Origin of Sorrows

She couldn't believe it.

For the first time to her immediate memory, Po had followed his heart and it _failed_.

Any more pain and his heart would _literally_ fail; after all, if he ate any more, he could have easily prone himself to a heart attack from the sudden excess weight he was taking onto himself. Heck, no one trusted him to cook dinner anymore, for they were worried that he would eat the meal before they could even share it with as miserable as he was.

If he had not spent so much time with Tigress prior to the ordeal, maybe they would have to go to Mr. Ping's every night. Sure, he gave them discounts, but Mr. Ping's cooking wasn't the same as Po's cooking, even if Tigress did get tips from Mr. Ping about making food after learning more about cooking from Po.

Yes, she took it upon herself to learn how to cook - she thought it might be fun, and Po was happy to show her how it was done. However, it was the reason why she, and everyone else, knew about why Po was so sad now. What had happened that night was the reason why no one asked.

It was the reason why no one _needed_ to ask - that was the same night Po's beloved girlfriend, Song, had practically broken up with him in their public view.

No one even knew what Po did wrong in the first place, but what happened that night was pretty clear in their heads.

 _"Ow!"_

 _"Sorry, Po."_

 _"It's okay, you were just holding my paw a little hard."_

 _Everyone at the table watched with amusement as the panda tried to show Tigress about how to cut the veggies into a decent size that was good for serving. After all, it amazed them at the same time that Tigress had come so far in cooking. Sure, she wasn't a professional, like Po, but the fact that she had a good stance when it came to noodles was enough, and even learning more made the scene more amusing._

 _She had to remember that this was cooking, not Kung-Fu._

 _Her opponent wasn't going to hurt her - at least when she knew how to control the situation, like a relapse of the self-control Master Shifu taught her when she was a cub, except it was much easier this time._

 _She considered herself fortunate though, to have someone like Po to be so patient with her with all the questions that she had. She didn't mind learning new things - she just needed someone who was willing to put up with her until she got it. Most were afraid of her, but there were a select few that were able to push that aside - Shifu and Po were such individuals._

 _Tigress would only admit to Po that she felt a little embarrassed to be asking him how to cook, but Po totally understood where she was coming from. In fact, when she actually confronted him with what she wanted, he was pretty darn happy to having the honor of showing one of his best friends how to do something, even if it was cooking._

 _The night of teaching the mighty master how to cook was interrupted by a light clearing of the throat that caused everyone's attention to turn._

 _There, at the door, with a soft smile and sadness in her eyes, was Song._

 _No one seemed to catch on the second emotion, since Po was happy to see his girlfriend, casually going over to her with his typical, big smile. It was the fact their relationship was established was the reason why no one was surprised that she was there, and the feline continued to chop away at the food as Po was about to get affectionate with his girlfriend - the typical thing to expect from the panda._

 _However, even though he wanted to give her a kiss, it didn't happen, for before could even get his lips remotely close to hers, she put her paw in between her own lips and kiss, preventing any possible kiss for ever happening._

 _Monkey and Mantis muttered to themselves and Tigress caught on to their incoherent words of confusion, looking over at them before looking at Song and a rather confused Po. For the record, she had assumed that the night was going to go its usual way - Po kissing his girlfriend silly and Song laughing about how ticklish he was. However, that didn't happen, and Tigress slowed down her chopping to where she was still cutting up vegetables for the noodle soup, but only so slow as to she could tell what she was doing without having to look._

 _Po looked bewildered - in fact, everyone was - but he seemed to panic a little bit when those fateful words left Song's lips._

 _"We need to talk."_

 _The panda looked over his girlfriend, rather confused about the predicament, but allowed himself to be lead outside of the kitchen. Since his physical presence was outside of the room, Tigress turned her attention back to the last of the essential ingredients for the soup, sighing in annoyance when she felt her friends get up and look outside the kitchen and at the couple._

 _"Will you guys stop?" she asked, "What they're doing is none of our business."_

 _"Didn't you see how distraught Po looked when Song told them that they needed to talk?" Mantis asked, "Trust me, I've seen it happen - whenever a girl says that, it means trouble."_

 _Deep down, Tigress hoped that there was no trouble between Song and her best friend. In fact, they had been at a pretty good relationship for almost a year. With some of the stuff she had seen Po go through with her, she sincerely doubted that anything could break those two apart..._

 _"What do you mean, 'we're done'?"_

 _...Or at least she thought._

 _Tigress felt her heart stop for a minute by Po's question._

 _What did Song mean by 'done'?_

 _She was surprised that their voices were at normal level, and not in a hushed tone when it came to conversations like this. As much as she didn't want to eavesdrop, her ears were too keen to not hear what came next._

 _"I mean exactly that," Song said in a manner that implied that her decision was final, "I'm sorry, Po, but even though I do like you, a lot, I can't keep going with this. I don't think either of us are committed to this relationship enough to make it last."_

 _"Come on, Song," Po said as those who saw noticed Po taking one of her paws into his own, "We can work this out, you just need to-"_

 _"-'Need to' what, Po?" Song asked, "I've been trying to meet you at the middle, but I see now that it isn't going to work if you can't meet in the middle with me..."_

 _She pulled her hand from his grip._

 _"I'm sorry, Po... but we're done..._  
 _I asked for this relationship, but now I'm breaking it..._  
 _We're no longer boyfriend and girlfriend."_

 _The silence was only broken by the light patting of Song's feet making her way towards the nearest door, clearly indicating that she wasn't going to come back._

 _After that, there was nothing to break the silence, only the beak of Crane completely open and Mantis' smart mouth._

 _"Well, that was a harsh way to break up."_

 _That earned him a hiss from Viper._

 _"What do you think happened to make Song feel that she needed to break up with Po?" Monkey asked._

 _However, his response came from Po himself, turning his head over to his friends with a few tears in his eyes._

 _"I don't know, guys..." was all he could say, "I... don't know..."_

Only a day after that did it become known that Song was dating someone else. It pissed off Tigress so much, and she was just as confused, if not more, than Po about why not only Song broke up with him without a second thought, but went about life as if it didn't mean anything. Sure, she didn't trust her before, but she didn't think that she would go so low as to be a bitch to the same panda who helped her change her ways in the first place.

It was as if she had been cheating on him this whole time... like Song had _used_ Po.

She couldn't bear with that idea, and it made her fur stand on end thinking about it. It was such emotions that lead her to the mission she was on right now as she made her way in the Valley of Peace during one of their breaks. Tigress wanted to hear from Song's own lips why she had put Po through this mess.

She couldn't bear the idea of Po being _used_...  
She wouldn't have allowed it to slip if he _was_...  
Because more than she cared to admit...  
Tigress, too, loved that annoying panda.

Yes, she, too, had come to feeling the same thing Song had felt for Po. However, the prime difference between the snow leopard and the feline master was the fact that one of them actually got to Po. Song was the one that had confessed her feelings and Po had accepted her advantages. It was only proper that after Po made it known to his friends about the wonderful news did Tigress use her meditation to cease certain thoughts she was having about the panda. After all, Po and Song were what Po called 'an item'. She didn't quite understand where physical objects came into play concerning feelings (at least to describe the relationship), but she understood enough about his feelings and her own that it was better that there was no conflict between them and get over the thoughts of romance with the panda not because of her, but for him.

If Po was happy without her, then she would learn to deal with it, just like how she had learned to deal with everything else.

Ironically, it was her love for the panda that taught her how to be happy with his newfound relationship. It wasn't until their fifth month together that Tigress found it in herself to be genuinely happy for him and learn her place in the panda's heart, even though it had been extremely different from her own.

Now that it was gone, she didn't know what to make of it. From Po being so happy to downright distraught in a matter of days worried her enough, but fears that Song may not have been committed to the relationship in the first place made her mad - mad about the idea that maybe Po had used his happiness on someone who really didn't want his happiness in the first place. Perhaps it was her love for him that kept her going, but her mind was still as stubborn as always after she was able to find peace in just their friendship. After all, if someone hit one's best friend, and they saw it, it wasn't common for them to go without the bully receiving a few blows himself.

That was the best way to describe it - it was as if out of nowhere, Song decided to give Po a fatal wound that he had not yet recovered from.

She new that Po was in pain because he kept doing one of two extremes - either eating too much or not enough. Tigress was well aware of this because ever since the breakup, she took it upon herself to act upon what she had learned prior to the ordeal: the cooking skills that she had learned from Po so that no one would be hungry or throw up from having too much in their system. One thing she hoped would never happen was the panda starving himself or getting a heart attack from too much.

After all, she still loved him - be it friends or the lost thoughts of being lovers, Tigress knew she loved him.

If she had not been out there to hear from Song, then she would've probably went to the same place to learn more from Mr. Ping on the topic of cooking. Yes, Tigress put her paw on the idea that maybe Song would be there - no one had to be dating the Dragon Warrior to love Mr. Ping's food. Anyone would have known that, but not many people knew that Tigress was also going to be there for a completely different reason.

"Oh, hello, Tigress!" Mr. Ping exclaimed as he caught sight of the famous tiger, "Would you like your usual today?"

"No thank you, Mr. Ping," Tigress said, "I was wondering if you had seen Song. I wish to speak with her."

"Well, she hasn't left, that's for sure," the goose said a little flatly, turning his head not too far from Tigress, "If she wasn't a customer, perhaps I would have kicked her out a long time ago."

Oh no... Mr. Ping was mad about the whole affair too.

That could very well explain why he disappeared for a few days: to seek comfort in his father or fresh-made noodles. Apparently, that didn't work, not only because of the fact he had been under the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom every night before he went to bed, but he started to seem a little different in training, and not in a good way, either. Normally, a visit to the peach tree _wasn't_ a bad thing, since he had become accustom to visiting it as his prime place to meditate after dinner sometime after obtaining inner peace, but here's where the problem was - that's the _only_ place he could be found when he wasn't cooking, training, or sleeping. It seemed as if he had taken this new idea as his new coping mechanism, and Tigress caught onto it very fast.

She didn't try to do anything at first because Po insisted that he needed to do this alone - it was _his_ relationship, and thus _his_ problem.

Even when things seemed off, she wanted to trust Po that he could get through this, like how he went through every other ordeal. From Tai-Lung, to Shen, to Kai - Po always had this crazy idea that seemed to get everyone out and make everything okay again. She didn't understand, but that wasn't a good reason not to trust him. Now it was as if he couldn't pull himself through this. The irony of the matter was that before he pulled himself through two of the most popular enemies of China, Tigress had a talk with him. For Shen, it was during their incomplete conversation on the boat. With Kai, it was when Po was trying to train but his head was too drowned in fear.

It's like, in a weird sense, she was partially responsible for helping Po to get to that place he needed to be to take on his enemies. It was like, in some twisted way, they took them on together.

Perhaps that was why she felt obligated to help Po now.

Sure, it was a personal affair, but seeing Po like this broke her heart, and more than she was willing to admit. After all, this was about someone he thought would be a potential mate. Song wasn't a bad person, so why the sudden change?

That's why she was here, and after bowing to Mr. Ping in respect, she went over to the corner where Song and her cryptic boyfriend was.

She knew that it was her boyfriend - they were _kissing_ just a few seconds ago.

It didn't really matter who her boyfriend was now, because Tigress wasn't here for that. Being with someone else is one thing, but breaking up was something completely different, no matter how closely correlated they were. After all, it only confirmed in Tigress' mind that Song didn't have any remorse about breaking up with Po.

That's why she was here.

"Song?"

The female snow leopard's smile turned into a frown. It wasn't a frown that had any bitterness or resentment. In fact, it was almost as if Song was expecting the female tiger master to eventually approach her - she just looked disappointed that of all times, it was now.

"Master Tigress," Song said, her tone in the terms of simple acknowledgement.

She didn't seem bitter, so Tigress continued.

"Forgive my intrusion," Tigress said politely, "But I was wondering if we could talk."

Tigress didn't say anything as Song looked over at her boyfriend with a smile, assuring him that she would be right back before she gave him another kiss and got up, gesturing with her hand for Tigress to lead the way.

She didn't want to talk here - that was fine for Tigress. She just needed to talk.

Ironically, there were no words between the tigress and the snow leopard as they made their way out of the village and into the open field just outside of the Valley of Peace. There wasn't any danger, and if there was, they could protect themselves, but as the sun was passing its afternoon point, but not yet dark enough to be evening, Song and Tigress were able to come to a stop in their walking and finally speak what was on their mind. After all, Tigress was trying to think about what she wanted to say and how to say it, least she offend the snow leopard.

"So what brings us all the way out here during my date?" Song asked, "You're not here to kill me, are you?"

"I figured as much that you would have been on a date," Tigress replied, "But if I really wanted to kill you, I would've already done it."

The yellow-clad female tiger turned to look at her companion, not a streak of amusement on her face.

"I just have a few questions."

"And you couldn't ask me in the noodle shop?"

"It involves Po, so I assumed it would be best if you and I were the only ones around to discuss the whole affair."

A light, but rather long, "Oh," left Song's lips, her eyes lighting up in realization about what was on Tigress' mind before shrugging, "What do I possibly know about Po that you don't?"

Was she getting _cocky_ , or was she really serious? Tigress tried not to growl at her remark, but a little left her lips anyway.

"Oh, I think you _definitely_ know something about Po that I don't," Tigress said, trying hard not to snap at her, but her tone clearly indicating that she was about to if Song wanted to keep playing around like this, her entire form facing Song as she spoke, "Like why he's always trying to be alone when he isn't performing his duties at the Jade Palace."

"It's a good change of pace for him," Song said, "Maybe he'll finally come to terms with what I realized a long time ago."

"What are you talking about?" Tigress demanded.

"So I _do_ know something about him that you don't?" Song asked, a little surprised yet it seemed intentional, "Wow, this is different."

"And for the record, I think it's your fault, Song."

"That's where you're wrong."

"Then elaborate."

Song twirled the umbrella in her paws as she glanced at Tigress from the side of her eyes, whom was growling a little. From what she knew of Tigress, she didn't like it when things were beaten around the bush. Heck, with the kind of strength Song was aware of, Tigress never _had_ to - she could just reach through or just beat down the bush: that was Tigress.

Still, at the same time, she didn't want any trouble with the female tiger master than she had already been in. With a sigh, and her humor all gone, since Tigress clearly didn't want the mood to be lightened up, it was probably the best if she got to the point.

"If you _really_ want to know who's fault it is, it's all Po's fault...  
But you _can_ say that _you_ had a paw in it too..."


	2. The Reason to Leave

_"If you_ really _want to know who's fault it is, it's all Po's fault...  
But you _can _say that_ you _had a paw in it too..."_

The words continued to echo in Tigress' mind, like a droplet hitting still water. Then again, her mind was anything _but_ still before and after the words left the snow leopard's mouth.

Before she confronted Song, she was pretty confused already. Now that she confronted her, she was _more_ confused about the whole affair. That wasn't the point - she was here for _answers_ , not _questions_. She can come up with questions on her own - she didn't need any help with that.

What did she mean by it being _her_ fault? She had supported the whole affair from day one - what could _she_ have possibly done that would have lead Song to leave Po in this distraught state?

There were still more questions than answers - she wasn't backing down.

"What... what do you mean by that?"

"Don't you _dare_ start bull-shitting, Tigress," Song said, her voice now opening up to bitterness, "Don't tell me you haven't seen him looking at you the way he does, or at least seen the twinkle in his eyes whenever you guys talked."

Was there always a twinkle? Maybe that's why if there ever was one, she didn't notice it.

Still, what she said next surprised Song.

"I didn't."

For a moment, there was silence, Tigress looking at Song with pity, but what happened next made her even more confused than she already was.

Song laughed.

"Typical," Song chocked out, "So _typical_ that the best friend wouldn't notice."

"Why do you think I brought you here?" Tigress asked, "Po won't talk to me because it believes it's his problem to face alone, but since nothing is changing, I need to know why."

"Of course he wouldn't come to you like he normally does," Song remarked, "It's because that it involves you altogether. Trust me, do you think I didn't know that all the times Po and I fought, he went to _you_ for comfort? I'm a little dense, but I'm not stupid."

"Then tell me what's going on with Po."

"It's all _perfectly_ clear, _Master Tigress_. Everyone thinks that I broke up with Po because _I_ was cheating on _him_ , and couldn't take the secrecy any longer because he's the famous Dragon Warrior, but I'm _not_ the bad-guy here. In fact, if anyone is a cheater, it's _him_!"

Given what she had just said about her, something clicked in Tigress, and raised her defenses up.

"How _dare_ you accuse Po of cheating!?" Tigress snarled, the accusation against her friend clearly going too far, "During those times he went to me during your little fights was all for _you_ , Song, _you_! Po would _never_ give up on someone he cares deeply about, especially someone whom he was in love with."

Song seemed a little relaxed in relation to Tigress, but then again, Song also knew that she had more information about Po than Tigress did. She was mad at her, but was able to collect herself on Tigress' ignorance. Sighing, the snow leopard looked away from the clearly angry tiger, her frown causing Tigress to relax some of her ferocity.

"You're right, Po _wouldn't_ give up on anyone - I've experienced that first hand, and you have too, maybe even _more_ than me since I know how you two stood when you first met - but he never relied on me with his heart in the first place."

Tigress didn't say anything because she didn't know _what_ to say, only gazing at Song as she turned away to look at the valley.

"I thought that it was just my imagination when I asked him out," Song said, smiling a little at the memory of asking him out and being accepted as his girlfriend, "but the longer I was with him, no matter the denial, the longer it took me to realize that it was anything _but_ my imagination."

Sighing, she turned to Tigress, a soft, sad smile crossing her face as a light breeze went through the valley. The sun was closer to the horizon now, so the atmosphere was a little darker than the beginning of their conversation, and evening became a bit more obvious.

"Po told me to _never_ tell anyone this, especially you," Song said, "But given the circumstances, I guess this will be my funny way of getting back at him."

"There's nothing funny about this, Song."

"You're right, there isn't, especially since he had feelings for _you_."

That took the cake.

"...What did you just say?"

"I don't think he got over them when he started to date me," Song said, "But hey, if I were into tigers, I suppose I would understand why he would come to fall in love with you. You're not only _the_ Master Tigress, master of the tiger style and one of the icons of his biggest obsessions, the Furious Five, but you're also his closest friend - a pretty cliche romance next to falling in love with a stranger if you ask me."

It wasn't true... nothing of what she said could be true. There was no such thing as something being true being that good.

Even if she did want to believe it, she refused to allow herself to do so.

"It isn't true."

"Tigress, I _know_ it's true - take it from the girl who actually dated him.  
Sure, I thought that it was just his fan-boy side coming out, which I honestly thought at first was really cute, but when he started talking about what you liked, disliked, the fights _you_ two had as friends, and little personal things I wished he asked me about, I started to get worried...  
...but my guess is that it really started to show through when you asked him to show you how to cook."

Tigress cringed, looking away from the snow leopard now that she had her side of the story.

"Song, I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be - their _his_ feelings, not yours.  
Sure, they involve you, and my relationship with Po couldn't work because of it, but they are still his feelings."

She sighed a little.

"It's just one of the many flaws of Po... he doesn't realize certain things unless they're right in front of his face...  
It just took me a while to realize that I needed to step out of the way for him to see it... even if it meant hurting him.  
It also hurt that you two know more about each other than even I knew about my own boyfriend, but once I saw that his feelings were towards you and not me, the idea of breaking up with him became more bearable."

Song turned her head away from Tigress, feeling some level of relief now that she actually said something about her ordeal.

"Tell me, Tigress... do you love him?"

Tigress looked at Song, but Song didn't return the gaze this time.

"I mean, I know we're talking about Po's feelings here... but what about you? Do you like Po?"

Now that the question was on the table, Tigress realized that she had not thought about her feelings for Po in the longest time. Sure, she had genuine affection for him, but it wasn't sometime before he dated Song that she realized that she was smitten by him. Tigress did get over it and became genuinely supportive of the couple, but thoughts of having Po as her own had not been in her mind for quite some time. In fact, it was almost foreign to her, since she was able to convince herself that as long as he was happy, she would be able to bear with it.

Perhaps the fact she knew of Po's true feelings for her made the situation very different.

"You're not going to receive any judgement from me," Song said, whom by this point was looking at Tigress because she had not answered, "I'm his _ex_ -girlfriend, remember?"

She smiled a little at her attempt to be humorous now, especially since she now had the answer she was looking for.

"I'm..." Tigress began to say, putting a lot of thought into her words before she continued with her answer, "...emotionally fond of him, but I was happy for you two."

Song smiled - she had it as bad as she did, maybe even more, even if Tigress couldn't admit it.

"Well, there's no need to be anymore," Song said, "You know why I did what I did and that we all make mistakes, so how about I get back to my date and you go back to the panda you're so smitten over before we lose our chance at love again?"

Song was right - she wasn't a bad person, and neither was Po - they were just all imperfect people looking for the same thing.

Her opportunity was there before her. It wasn't in the way she thought it would come, but it was _there_ , and Po's ex-girlfriend _knew_ she wanted to take it, and was actually _happy_ for her.

Putting both of her paws together, Tigress did the respectful bow before looking at the snow leopard, a genuine smile crossing her lips, which Song returned, even though she couldn't put her own paws together on the account of her umbrella. Still, Tigress knew she meant respect.

"Thank you for your time," Tigress said, "I believe my mind is at ease on the matter."

"Don't mention it," Song said, giggling a little, "Now go get that panda before he gets himself into trouble."

What Tigress did next wasn't overly surprising for Song - Tigress _ran_. Sure, it was on all fours, as she had become accustom to doing, but she seemed to be out of sight as the sun went down as if Tigress was playing against time itself. Then again, perhaps she was - it was all out of Song's paws now as she sighed in relief, looking down at the sunset that put warmth through her heart and revealed the stars that were so far away. As Song began to make her slow pace down to the Valley of Peace, she began to think about her date again, a smile beaming on her face as another giggle left her lips.

"I wonder how I can make up to him this time..."


	3. Theoretical Confession

Tigress was accustom to thrill.

However, this kind of thrill was different, for it wasn't the threatening kind, like a flaming arrow, trying to get out of a building, or even the stress of helplessness against an enemy she knew she couldn't defeat. She was familiar with similar feelings, but not in the manner it was like right now.

She guessed this was the sort of feelings the village girls were talking about when they were going to meet up with their boyfriends, or perhaps confess to someone they've liked for a long time. In her case, it was the later.

Tigress wasn't quite sure what to say when she got there, but she knew at least these two things: one, where he was likely to be; and two, she was once hopelessly in love with him. In her situation, her hopelessness was in the past, and she had even grown to be okay with it because she loved him, but with the situation at hand in their turn, and Song completely confessing that she was over the whole affair, all that was left was to help Po through this turbulent time before she would be remotely okay with telling him how she felt.

Yes, if this were under different circumstances, perhaps she would try to look for him in order to confess, but as much as she wanted to, she had done the exact same thing she had done for him up to this point, and that was put his feelings first. Sure, it hurt a little, but with Song over the whole affair, she had found this new faith that Po should find it within himself to move on too - after all, a building is never really abandoned until everyone leaves. She had been behind him waiting for him to get over this whole affair a bit too long - now she was going to go head-to-head with him like she had done so many times before.

Maybe, later on in life, she will confess to him, but not today - she had Po to worry about. It was the very thing that assured her time and time again that she was in love with him.

It was a relief everything was like a domino effect in her mind now - after all, she knew where Po was, and didn't take her too long to reach the Jade Palace again and start making her way up to the peach tree.

As she had expected, there he was, but he didn't seem to be meditating at all. From the look of things, he was just sitting there.

From what she was able to gather from the corner of his eyes, however, told her what she needed to know.

"Po."

He didn't move, but his body did tense up a little, so he acknowledged that she was there, a defeated sigh leaving his lips.

"Hi, Tigress."

It was almost as if Po was expecting her - could inner peace really do that?

"Is it time for dinner already?"

If he wasn't meditating, what _was_ he doing out here?

Now that she thought about it - it _was_ almost time for dinner, she just didn't think about it until now.

"It is," she said plainly, in her gentle, matter-of-fact tone, "But that's not why I'm here."

"Really?"

"Yes... I've been meaning to ask you what you've been doing up here."

"Meditating."

"Other than that, Po."

"Come on, Tigress - what else _could_ I be doing?"

By now, Tigress was sitting by his side, and saw something that she didn't see before until she got closer to him. Since Po was looking at her as she sat down, she was able to gesture with her head to the pile of peach cores that had accumulated on the other side of the panda. Giving them another glance compelled Po to sigh, the second time in a row that it was in defeat.

"What's wrong?"

He closed his eyes for a minute, trying to think about what he wanted to say, which put a rather conflicted look on his face. Tigress observed him in his conflicted state, and simply waited. Perhaps he was trying to come up with the right way to say what was on his mind, which normally wasn't like him at all - he would just talk and Tigress would later click onto whatever he was talking about.

"Do you ever feel like you messed up... like, _really_ messed up?"

Po was no stranger to failure. Then again, neither was Tigress. In fact, both were well acquainted with failure, or they wouldn't be masters now - Po's was just a little more open about his failures and she was.

"Of course," Tigress said.

"Well," Po said as he rubbed the back of his rather large neck, sighing again before he continued, "I know I've made more than my fair share of mistakes in the past... but I really think that this one could have been prevented."

So one dominant thing that was going on in Po's mind right now was guilt. Still, he looked conflicted.

"What could have been prevented?" Tigress asked, continuing to play oblivious since she knew that Po wasn't aware of her visit to her ex-girlfriend just a few short moments ago.

"Don't get me wrong," Po said, raising his paws to about the same level as his shoulders in defense, "Song is really cute, and sweet, and really nice person to hang out with..."

He looked down at the ground he was sitting on, closing his eyes in guilt, for he couldn't look at his best friend as the next words left his mouth.

"...but my heart just wasn't in it, even when I thought it could."

"Could?" she repeated, wondering why he said 'could' when she honestly thought he would say 'wasn't'.

"Yeah," Po said with a half laugh, no humor in it at all as she continued, "I thought that by dating her, whatever I was feeling would go, but it didn't..."

He put his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his paws - man, he felt _really_ bad.

"Now I feel like that by not following my heart, I ended up using Song..."

Slowly, he moved his paws over his eyes and rested them on the back of his head, still not looking at Tigress.

"Man... I just hope she will forgive me."

"You make it sound as if she hasn't already," Tigress remarked, "She seemed to take the breakup really well."

"Yeah, but I still think I should apologize," Po said, "We may not be boyfriend and girlfriend anymore, but that doesn't mean we're not friends."

He had a point.

Still, if he figured out what was wrong, why in the world was he still up here? From all the peaches he had eaten, she believed that he was upset. It was almost as if he had come to the end of some horrible storm and he was staring dumbfounded at the debris it left behind. It wasn't like Po to just stand there - he was the kind of person that would encourage himself and others to start over...

So why wasn't he?

What had him so down and out that made him act this way?  
This almost made her feel as hopeless as when they took on Kai.

"...If you figured out what you need to do," Tigress said slowly, earning Po's glance back at her, which she returned, "Why are you still here?"

She had a feeling where this was going, given how plainly obvious Po was, but she also knew that Po needed to talk this out for his own benefit. Tigress allowed him to look back down at the ground that supported him both, but she knew that she needed to be here for another kind of support altogether.

"Tigress... this is just theoretical, okay?"

The tiger master knew it wasn't, but she played along, nodding her head.

"Okay..." she said, rather puzzled as into why he would even try this in the first place - then again he didn't know.

"Okay... um... suggest for a minute that you knew you liked someone, like _really_ liked them..."

By that, she knew he meant love.

"...And you thought that they didn't feel the same way..."

Did she give that impression? Now that she thought about it, the only impression she seemed to give people was that she was a Kung-Fu master, so maybe she scared him off? No, it wasn't like Po to be scared of her, or anything in that matter without a legit reason. Then again, she didn't like it when Po was terrified of _anything_ , even if it was something super silly like pure ignorance.

"...Would you get over those feelings and see if there might be someone else out there who would be romantically interested in you?"

Was _that_ the whole reason everything went down like it did - because he thought that she didn't love him? While she was looking her friend over, she remembered that she didn't tell him how she felt either. Now that she thought about it, it was as if Po was actually right - that all of this could have been prevented, but it started because of ignorance.

Po was ignorant about how to properly go about what he was feeling over an assumption, and because of this, Tigress assumed that he was happy. Because he wasn't really happy, Song, the one who loved _and_ dated him, caught on and did what was necessary for not only her own happiness, but for his. She just wished that Po didn't make this any harder on himself than what it needed to be.

Still, he was making it even harder on himself and her by playing the theoretical game - she was willing to play along.

"Well, 'theoretically' speaking," Tigress said, giving the moon a glance since it was full and didn't hold back any light into the nocturnal atmosphere, "If I liked someone - _really_ like someone, as you suppose - then I wouldn't assume that they wouldn't return my feelings unless I had a firm answer from them.  
After all, if it were me, I wouldn't like just anyone - it would likely be someone who I've been friends with for a long time first.  
Thus, buy asking, any unneeded assumptions would be cast away before they became worse, and since we would both be friends prior to the predicament, I know that I could trust him."

By now, she was in a more relaxed seating position next to her panda friend, who had full attention on her, a little amazed that Tigress was being so specific in the theoretical matter.

"I would only 'get over those feelings' if one or both occurrences came to be - that he just didn't genuinely feel the same way or was with someone else."

Po gulped.

"Sure, it would hurt, but that's the funny thing about love - you tend to put someone else's feelings before your own."

"Wow, Tigress... you're really... _specific_."

"It's the truth, despite the theoretical aspect of your questions," Tigress said, "Besides, I've lived it - I _know_ that I like someone."

Beforehand, she thought it would've been best to not say anything about it, but given the situation it seemed to help, and Po's voice lightened in the matter.

"Really? Who?"

"Before I answer that, how about you answer a question of _mine_."

Po felt a cold chill run through him as Tigress got up, walking in front of the panda so they could make eye-contact, her two small suns for eyes burning into the barriers between himself and her.

She had to ask.

"Tell me," Tigress said, "You keep bringing up this other girl that got in the way of any potential relationship between you and Song."

"Yeah..."

"She must be incredible to have you think about her more than your now-ex-girlfriend."

"Yup... pretty awesome..."

Yup, he had it bad - to use the one word reserved for Kung-Fu or seriously good food. She couldn't help but smirk at the oblivious panda that she was unintentionally and indirectly making quite narcissistic remarks, but only because the panda didn't know.

In another sense, he _did_ now - she just needed him to confess.

"So tell me... who is she?"

If there wasn't any fur between his cheeks and Tigress, his blush would have been more obvious than she could already see. She wanted to laugh a little, but only allowed herself the honor of smiling. It could have been from shame, which lead her to frown a little, but she wasn't so sure. All that mattered now was waiting for Po to break from her gaze.

She wasn't going to let him escape this time.

One sigh was enough to tell her that she had won.

"You aren't going to like it."

Bullshit - she would actually _love_ it if Po just bothered to tell her, but then again, his ignorance...

"You won't know that unless you tell me."

She allowed him to look away, obviously fighting with the last walls that were preventing him to speak.

When he turned to look back at her again with those jaded orbs that she had come to fall in love with, her heart fluttered. However, what he said next made her happy and welcomed a feeling that she had only felt a few times before until now.

"Tigress... the one I like... no, the one I _love_... is _you_."


	4. When the Heart IS Followed

_"Tigress... the one I like... no, the one I_ love _... is_ you _."_

Now that she heard him, she didn't hold back her happiness. Now that he confessed, she was going to give him her answer - after all, she couldn't hold back anymore.

Without any words, she _punched_ him - right in the shoulder: one of her love punches that she knew Po could take.

"Owww!" Po whimpered, "What was _that_ for?"

" _That_ was trying to play the theoretical game on me," Tigress said, "You know I'm not _that_ oblivious, Po."

"But, come _on_ ," Po pleaded, "Your punches really _do_ hurt, you know! You could've done something else other than a punch to tell me you were mad at me, like-"

It was then the panda couldn't finish what he had said, for in response to his actual feelings, Tigress had leaned in and did something that Po actually agreed with, and that was a firm, gentle kiss right on his stammering lips.

His jade orbs were tiny with shock, surprised that how well Tigress was taking his confession, given the circumstances. Then again, it was _she_ who kissed _him_ , and he _did_ confess to how much he wanted her. It took a while, but Tigress refused to part her lips from his, in which she was rewarded for her diligence when Po kissed back.

She didn't say it at the time, but Tigress was indirectly telling him that she had forgiven him for his recent stupidity. After all, she did love the panda to death.

Po wasn't resistant to her, so that told her that despite the situation, he was willing to accept her feelings, and that made her even more happy. As she broke the kiss with the love-dazed panda, she opened her eyes to observe him, smiling as he looked like he had just woke up.

"Do you mean like that?" she asked.

He couldn't say anything, but Tigress giggled.

" _That_ was my answer to your feelings," she said, relaxing her head under his chin as she allowed herself to touch his chest fur, "I suppose I don't blame you for being clueless. I didn't even know you had feelings for me until I heard it from Song."

She heard him groan and felt him cringe.

"She _told_ you?"

" _I_ asked her."

"About you?"

"About _you_."

"Oh..."

At first, Tigress was tense for displaying such affection to the panda she was in love with, but she told herself that these were her honest feelings, so there was nothing to be ashamed of, and sweet relief met her when she felt Po relax.

"You wanted to know why I was avoiding everyone."

That wasn't a question - it was a statement.

"I did."

"Sorry for making you and everyone else tense," Po said, "I had to think about this alone and face myself without any sweet talk or opinions... a "be honest with yourself" kind of moment."

So he didn't want any more voices in his head than he already had - in a way, that was smart.

Tigress was a little startled when Po gently put his huge paws on her shoulders and lightly pulled her away from him. There were two factors that contributed to the idea that he didn't pull away out of rejecting her feelings: one, the fact he was still holding her shoulders after pulling her away; and two, he was looking dead set on her eyes in a manner that told her what Po was about to say was without any form of jest.

"Tigress, I love you, I really do," Po said as his hold on her shoulders tightened a little, compelling Tigress to put her paws on top of his own for reassurance and to keep going, "But it wouldn't be fair for you if I don't apologize to Song for what I did. As much as I care about you, and as much as I want to be with you, I don't feel comfortable asking you out until I have closure."

Another thing she liked about Po was that he had such a huge heart - perhaps bigger than his belly at times.

Putting a more firm hold on Po's paws, Tigress made a grip on them for the sole purpose of holding them within her own. Just because she couldn't feel anything in her paws anymore, that didn't mean she didn't like touching Po, or at least giving him the pleasure of holding her's, which gave her a bit of pleasure thinking about it. After the words had left Po's mouth, Tigress smiled at him, completely understanding as she put one of his paws in a place where she could actually feel it: on her cheek as she gazed at him with her two glowing orbs.

"Po, I understand," she said firmly, "I know you feel bad, but I forgive you, and I think Song will forgive you too. I'll even go with you tomorrow to apologize."

The panda flustered at the fact Tigress was so accepting of his touch, "Y-You don't have to..."

"You're right, I _don't_ have to," Tigress said, "But I _want_ to."

Looking up at the panda, her heart flustered a bit when the surprised look changed to genuine happiness, one of his complete smiles covering his entire face. As Po leaned his hand into Tigress' cheek to have a better cupping, Tigress leaned into the more willing touch before looking up at Po again, smiling in return that Po was willing to touch her.

As if they had read each other's mind, Po and Tigress felt the same desire click at once, Po a little more obvious about his desire that she was as he lifted his other hand to cup the other cheek that belonged to his beloved tiger, the other master not the least bit resistant against the touch.

For a minute, they looked each other, silently asking for the other's consent as red met green - scarlet meeting jade. Without any words, they closed their eyes and leaned into one another for another kiss. This time, however, since they were both aware of each other's feelings, they were more certain to express their desire for it as Po's arms wrapped around her waist and Tigress wrapping her arms around his neck.

Until tomorrow, they had each other, and they were going to lavish in the moment while they had it...  
at least until the duties of life and the hungry stomachs started to look for the cook.


	5. The Heart Moves On

When the Heart isn't Followed  
Chapter 5: ...The Heart Moves On

They knew what they had to do as the first gleam of dawn began to hit the horizon.

True, by the time they could actually put it into practice, it was afternoon, and only hoped that by the time breakfast and training were over, they could confront Song with the apology that Po had promised to give to her just one night before. Because of the apology as well as the confrontation of feelings, both Po and Tigress had a hard time sleeping that night, and seemed to be a little harder on each other during training, but all was passed of as the desire to improve. Everyone was oblivious about the matter, and anything that was seen was passed off. However, by the time they could go do whatever they liked, Shifu had noticed Po at the stairs that were still his enemy and Tigress coming up to him.

From what his large ears were able to pick up, it sounded like Po was asking Tigress if she was certain about whatever they were going to do. With a nod and confirmation coming from Tigress, she seemed to be certain about whatever affair they only seemed to know about.

Still, he couldn't help but be the least bit curious about the whole affair and voiced his curiosity before they could take the first step.

"And where are you two going at this hour?" he asked, stopping both the panda and the tiger in their tracks.

Po sighed a little, but Tigress was the first to face him - bow and all.

"We're heading down to the Valley of Peace, master," Tigress responded, "Po has something he needs to take care of and I promised to go with him."

"Ah, well, a master must be true to her word," Shifu said in-a-matter-of-fact tone, "Perhaps you should making your way down now, before it gets too late in the day."

"That's exactly what I told him," Tigress said, shooting an amusing glance at the pouting Po.

"Hey, I was hungry, alright?" Po remarked in protest, before bowing to Master Shifu, "So let's cut the talking and get the walking!"

Tigress looked at him, rather amused as he began to head down the stairs in a face pace, knowing all too well that it was going to end in anything but well if he kept that pace. Still, she figured that she start her walking and catch up with the poor panda before he hurt himself, again.

Before she could, however, a voice stopped her.

"Tigress."

She turned to look at Shifu, knowing all too well that it had been him to had called to her.

"Yes, master?"

"I heard how you and Po came to dinner a little late last night," Shifu remarked, "I take it that Po has resolved his little problem?"

"Almost," Tigress replied, looking down at Po to make sure he didn't trip on himself, which lead Shifu to smile a little at her concern for him.

"And what about you?" Shifu asked, his smile not fading from his lips as Tigress was in a rather genuine state of shock, "Did you solve _your_ little problem?"

He remembered the first time that he had caught onto Tigress' feelings for Po, also recalling that she had called the whole affair a small problem, and that it would resolve on its own. Perhaps she wasn't wrong on the matter, but he still played along with Tigress dwindling the situation for what it was - something that he was prone to doing before he had found inner peace. The only reason why he didn't raise his voice in disapproval because of two things: one, they were her feelings, and that she was old enough to decide on her own who she could and could not love; and two, after a long time of meditating and thinking about what Master Oogway said about no accidents, there was nothing about Po to disapprove. Sure, he had his drawbacks, but so did everyone - as much as he wanted to, he couldn't find the perfect man for Tigress because he didn't exist.

In his own, silly, twisted sort of way, Po was pretty darn close, at least when it came to bringing out the part of Tigress Shifu honestly thought had died with her childhood... or at least with what childhood she had.

It relieved him, though, to see Tigress' eyes lighting up at what he was hinting at, and slowly started to smile in return.

"Yes, master," she said, "I have."

"Good," Shifu answered in partial relief, "Now go catch up with Po, before he trips on himself again."

As a father, it made him happy to see his daughter light up the way she did, bowing again before she took off on all fours, since the panda had reached about close to midway on the stairs before he stopped himself, Shifu glancing down at the potential couple as Tigress helped him up, chuckling at how odd yet complete they seemed at the same time.

It wasn't his first choice, but then again, he realized now that if the universe was in his hands, he would have made a lot of bad decisions, such as not choosing Po to be the Dragon Warrior, but he had touched everyone's hearts in his own little way, even his own.

Coping with the idea of little tiger/panda babies running around would have to wait - a bridge for them to cross when they got there.

He didn't want to think about the idea of being called grandfather just yet.

-

She expected Po to be like this when they finally got to the bottom of the stairs, but she had to hand him the diligence to do it every time.

"Man," he said through his pants, "I... don't think... phew... that I'll _ever_ get used to those stairs."

"I wouldn't say that," Tigress said as she offered her paw, "You didn't start losing your breath until after we made it halfway, so I would call that an improvement."

"Gee, thanks Tigress," Po muttered as he accepted her paw to get up, still a little out of breath, "but I am hungry."

"Food _after_ apology, Po," Tigress said.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Po replied, slightly pouting as if he thought that Tigress as assuming that he wasn't taking this promise seriously.

"Apology for what?"

They were a little surprised, and didn't hold back how they were feeling as they turned to the source of the voice: it was Song.

"Song..."

"Yeah, it's me," she said, almost as if she had been there the whole time, "Who do you need to apologize to?"

Once he was on his own two feet, he dusted himself off and Tigress gave them the space they needed, but only watched from so far in case things got a little ugly. Then again, she didn't think they would get ugly - not after how well Tigress took her confrontation, but wasn't too surprised as Po rubbed the back of his neck, looking away before he was able to recover his nerves and look at his ex-girlfriend in the face.

"I actually was going to look for you," Po said, "Because I need to apologize... for what I did while we were together."

"So you figured out what was going on in that big old heart of yours?"

"Yeah... and I'm sorry that it happened the way it did..."

"I completely understand why you would feel really bad, but at the end of it all, we all need a little push to realize what's most important. I do love you, Po, I really do, but not the same way when we were together, and I'm perfectly okay with how our relationship is now."

"...Wait, so that's it? You forgive me, just like that?"

"Of course, Po. Sure, I had my fair share of tears after breaking up with you, but I see now that it was for the better that we not be in a romantic relationship."

For a minute, Song was practically beaming.

"Besides, if we didn't break up, I wouldn't have realized just how wonderful my current boyfriend is now and would have probably been super-stubborn in how I felt about him. He's such a sweetheart~"

Po couldn't help but smile - it was nice to see Song so happy, and that he was forgiven."

"I was coming to the Jade Palace because I didn't want to be on awkward terms as friends," Song said as she patted his shoulder, "But assuming the work you just did to get here, I'd say we're cool."

"We're cool?"

"Yeah, we're cool."

As if she knew, Song turned her attention to Tigress, which caught Po off guard since she thought she wouldn't acknowledge her presence.

"If you want any tips on Po," Song said as she pointed to the panda when she said his name, "Don't hesitate to call me, okay?"

Po's face dropped - thoroughly surprised that Song was taking all of this so well, and really didn't lose that look as she began to walk away, which she would have continued if something else didn't dawn on her.

"Oh, and one other thing - Po _really_ likes having his back scratched, like a _lot,_ but he can't finish a Dragon Warrior size dumpling to save his life."

It took Po a minute to register what Song had said before she officially walked away this time, but as it all began to sink in, any blushing that was done couldn't be hidden so well under his fur.

"Oh, man, _Song_!" Po whined, strong emphasis on the name.

"You like having your back scratched?" Tigress asked, failing to suppress a giggle.

"What? Having your back scratched feels pretty nice if it's done right."

"I suppose I'll have to experiment on that - after we get food."

"' _After_ we get _food_ '? Tigress, are you sure you're okay?"

"I told you, didn't I? Apology first, then food."

"Oh yeah, you did... then what?"

"We'll find out when we cross that bridge."

Po couldn't help but smile at her, knowing her well enough that he could indicate a flirt when he heard one. Still, he wouldn't give in without a fight, that's just the dynamics of their funny relationship. Refusing to let his smile cease, he offered one of his paws to Tigress, which she caught notice of and smiled, glad that he caught onto her own gesture of flirting.

"Shall we go to my dad's place then, m'lady?"

He was practically beaming when Tigress giggled at his cocky attempt to be a gentlemen and accepted his paw into one of her own.

"Very well," she said when her giggles finally ceased, "Lead the way 'good sir', but don't think this is over: I'm still curious about the nit-picky things Song knows about you that I don't."

Of course it wasn't over, and Po was counting on that as they walked hand-in-hand (well, more like paw-in-paw) to his dad's noodle shop.

In fact, he was pretty sure it was just the beginning.


End file.
